Lovely Beginning. *Revised Edition*
by Lord Tansura of Darkness
Summary: 20 years after the end of the Eve Wars. The children of the Gundam Pilots are called to once again defend the Earth, this time from an alien race determined to make Earth their home. *Chapter three Uploaded!*
1. Default Chapter

Alright! The Lord is back in the flesh. I've finally gotten somewhat over my writers block. Thank goddess! --;; If your wondering why I decided to rewrite the story and not just leave it as is and finish it, well there were a couple of reasons. A) My writing style has I think gotten much better. B) I couldn't read my own fic without cringing. And C) I've got new ideas.  **PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!** I'm fragile. :P 

This version will be slightly less upbeat than the other, but fear not! I cannot go a chapter without something amusing happening. This will not turn into an angst ridden Give-X/1999-A-Run-For-Its-Money fic. ^_^ I'm just trying to make the characters a bit more realistic and stuff. ^_^V. For those of you just joining this fic, have fun. Hopefully it won't take me six months to get out one chapter. ^^;; he he..  You can read the original if you like but prepare to be a bit confused. 

Enjoy! And R&R please! I beg of you! ^^;; Leave a cookie if you really like it too.

Disclaimer: I do not own GW. ^^; But if I did…*whipcrack* 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Prologue- 

Twenty years…

Twenty years since the end of the Eve Wars and the official banning of all mobile suits from both colony and earth. Twenty years of healing old wounds, rebuilding destroyed cities and calming old feuds. 

The wars were already in the textbooks; being taught around the world that war is a horrible thing. That they should try to keep the glorious peace that was held tightly now by the people on earth and in the colonies. 

Due to the vast amounts of orphans made during the wars, centers of learning and living where set up. 

 Jardin de la Connaissance, or Gardens as they were mostly shortened too. Two had been set up and were functioning fully in this time period, one in the western part of North America, the other in the Northern part of Europe near the Sanq Kingdom.  A Garden out in the colonies had been made, but it was an elite Garden. It was harder to get into than the other two. It was also newer than the others, only having seven years to it's history to date.

 They had been originally funded by a group of businessmen to insure the future of the worlds would not be plague by masses of uneducated people.  Later funding was taken over by the Preventers, led by ex-Oz Officer Lady Une. 

Fearing that they would be unprepared if another war was to break out. The Preventers turned the Gardens into recruitment bases. Students that tested high enough were offered positions in mobile suit training. They were sworn not to tell anyone with grave punishments if information that such an operation had been going on were leaked out to the public. After graduation the students where employed into the Preventers. 

What happened to the so-called heroes of the Eve Wars? The majority of them had married and settled down, having children and a more regular lifestyle than they lived before. They got involved with the development of a new colony; the same colony that was later built holding the elite Garden. During a trip out to see how construction was going a freak explosion occurred. All of the adults were proclaimed dead. The people mourned the loss of the heroes. The children were also proclaimed dead, yet rumors still happen to fly that they are alive and out there…

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

" Shit!" A teenaged long hair boy jerked up in his bed. He was covered in a cold sweat, and shivering slightly. 

He leaned over rubbing his hands over his face to shake off the dream. 

" Come on now Maxwell," He grumbled to himself. " Don't let a stupid nightmare scare you."  It wasn't the first time he'd had a similar dream to that though. Brief dim flashes of feeling happy and content, he could hear what he figured to be his mother's voice. 

Solo wasn't sure. His parents were dead. He was an orphan, with no memories of what his parents had been like. 'Friggin unfortunate if you asked him. All of his dreams ended pretty horribly, with a lot of screams and shouts. He would feel trapped and scared, with the intense feeling of fire on his face. Then he woke up. It had been like that for many years. He was almost used to it…

Almost. 

Morning light spilt through the drapery of his dorm window. Solo yawned and stretched. New day, He was pretty sure there weren't any classes. 

He needed to wake up. He had to go out to the city to get some stuff. And then he had to study. Exams where coming up soon. They were going to be a bitch to take this semester. 

Standing up, the longhaired teenager headed towards the bathroom. Unfortunately his body wasn't aware enough to keep him from tripping over a pile of books. Solo did a graceful nose-plant into the floor and groaned, irritated.

It was going to be a _long _day… 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Don't forget to R&R!!!!!!!! * big chibi eyes* Tell me if it seemed better than the other so far! 


	2. Hi My Name Is!

Another Notes: I'm gonna try to keep these things short throughout this fic. First thing: Sorry that this chapter is slightly boring. I'm just trying to introduce some of the main characters. Bear with me, since chapter two picks up a bit.

 Second: For the language of the 'foreigner's' I shall call them now, I decided to change around the letters of the alphabet to show that what their using is different than regular things. I'll also be using this with the language occasionally. I'll provide a glossary at the end of the chapters if the words are used. I think that's it. Okies…

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing! Tis be an injustice that I don't but it is so..*sighs*. I do however own all the original characters that show up in this fic. Take them or the plot and I shall hunt you down and kill you slowly and very painfully.

Now Enjoy!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Chapter One- Hi my name is! 

Someone was pounding on the door. Irritated Solo pulled a gray sweater over his head, and zipped up his jeans. He headed out of his bedroom and through the small living room, maneuvering around the couch. 

" What?" Solo asked, opening the door.

His best friend, Okatami stood there. He had sort black spiky hair, which he had dyed blue in the front and stormy gray eyes. He was dressed in a pair of black baggy pants and one of those novelty t-shirts. ' It's funny till someone gets their eye poked out, then it's hilarious!" it read. Solo never did understand Okatami's taste in what he'd like to call fashion. 

 He had his hand raised for another knock, but promptly swatted Solo over the head when he noticed the door was open. " It's 7:25 you idiot!"

" So…what's your point?" Solo yawned and walked back into his dorm room. 

" Today's Friday! Not Saturday!" 

Solo's violet eyes bugged out. " Shit!" He ran back towards his room to grab his backpack and school things.

" Why the hell didn't you come earlier?!" Solo demanded as the two of them rushed through the hallways. His waist length chestnut hair flew behind him in disarray, still damp from his shower. He hadn't gotten the time to dry it off. 

" I'm not your damn alarm clock!" Okatami stated. " Professor Goble's gonna have a fit."

" Not if we make it on time!" Solo yelled as he ran faster. 

" Did you even set your alarm?"  Okatami asked, catching up with Solo. The rigorous gym classes they both had were good for something… 

Solo grinned looking over at Okatami. " Please…Like I ever-"

*SLAM* 

Solo found himself staring up at the ceiling. He was dimly aware that someone was under him also. " Ow." He stated, his head hurt from where it banged against the ground. 

Okatami was standing over him, his face twitching from the effort not to burst out laughing. " You really need to look where you're running…" 

Whoever was under Solo decided they didn't really like the position they were in. Solo found himself being kicked by a pair of slim legs. " Ow, ow! Stop it!" The braided teenager quickly took the hint and scrambled up. 

A small blonde girl glared up at the two boys. Her eyes were a startling light blue. " Good morning to you too." She grumbled, sitting up and trying to gather up the papers and books lying on the ground.

" Sorry!" Solo exclaimed, kneeling down to help the girl. " Really I didn't mean too." He quickly said.

The girl made an annoyed grunt at him. 

" Hey, don't be angry! I haven't seen you around before, are you new?" He handed the papers he'd collected back to the girl, and stood up. 

She nodded, still glaring at him. 

Okatami had finally cracked, and was laughing shaking his head. " Way to go idiot." He said grinning. He waved to the girl. " We'll show you too your next class, it's the least we can do. Since Solo just had to run into you."

The girl merely handed Okatami a sheet. She stood up and adjusted the bag on her shoulder. " I'm guessing we're horribly late already?" She asked.

" Yep." Okatami replied. " You've got the same class as we do. Lucky day!"

" Excuse of showing new student will be used!" Solo stated. The two boys quickly exchanged high fives. 

" Do you too happen to have names, or shall I call you Twiddle-de and Twiddle-dum? The girl asked standing up. She brushed off her black pants and adjusted her backpack on her shoulder. 

" Ouch. Your words are harsh!" Okatami pouted as the three started walking down the hallway. " Okatami's the name! Girly boy over here is Solo." He ducked quickly as Solo tried to whack him.

" Will you ever stop calling me that!?" Solo complained. 

The girl giggled at the two. They were amusing at the least. " I'm Misora Kenner." 

" Welcome to the Garden, Misora! I'll promise you that this isn't the first time you'll be run over by someone. Happens daily to some people. Don't be late, study your ass off and maybe you'll be able to make it!" 

" And don't forget to shower regularly." Okatami added. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Static.

A woman with curly red hair sat at a desk in a dark office. Papers and folders littered the desk and floor. The single window on the left side supplied the whole room with light.

More static. " Kim. Can you hear me, over?"

The woman quickly grabbed the walkie-talkie under a pile of disks. " You find something, over?"

A different voice this time spoke. " Find something? Kim we've found it. Damn sure this time too over!"

Kim's face lit up like a child on Christmas morning. She flipped open the top of her laptop and turns it on. " I'm loading, get the data ready, over!" She said, barely able to keep her voice steady. 

They'd seen the clues for so long. Well, actually there weren't many _real_ clues. Just rumors. They'd been combing over the North American continent for years trying to find it. 

It had been under their noses the whole damn time though. Ironic they never thought to search around the Garden. But now they'd found them. They had found living, breathing, intelligent life forms from another planet. Aliens.

Just thinking about the first contact made Kim all tingly. She shook her hands waiting for the program she'd designed to load up. This was more than just a minor discovery it was earth shattering. It'd change the views of humans for centuries to come.

Kim and her two friends, Marcus and Kathleen had found it.   

" Ready for data transfer!" Kim said into the walkie-talkie. 

" Roger that!" Kathleen's voice replied back, the download started. They were gathering any readings of the area that they could. Trying to find out more about them before they had first contact. 

Kim had been getting strange reports from various sources in the last two years about sightings of aliens. The reports kept jumping from country to country though, leaving her and her companions running after the clues and not getting much.

Kathleen had proposed the idea of aliens living among humans to the local group of scientists living on the west coast of America. They'd laughed her off the stage, asking her if she thought the old rock singer Elvis was among them. 

" Won't be laughing now." Kim growled. " We're gonna shove this data in their face."

The download finished. Kim put a blank CD in the drive and started to make a copy of it. 

" Kim…." Kathleen's voice came back over the walkie-talkie. " There seems to be some kind of force field around here. Looks impossible to pass through without getting hurt, over."

" Please don't tell me that you're poking it, over." Kim laughed.

" Not me…more like a stick. The force field zaps it whenever I do, over."

" Don't aggravate it." Kim warned. She shook her head, laughing slightly

" What's Marcus doing?" Kim asked. She took the now filled CD out of the laptop and placed it in a case. 

" He went down the hill, said he wanted to check something out, over." 

Kim paused, drumming her fingers on the table. " I have a bad feeling all of a sudden, over."

The sound of quick footsteps floated through the walkie-talkie. " So do I. I'm checking on him now, over."

Kim nodded, but then realized that Kathleen couldn't see that. She waited for Kathleen to come back with information on their friend's condition. Kim made herself busy by starting to unzip the data and look through it. 

"Fascinating..." The red haired woman murmured. 

" You two really to worry to much, over." Marcus's rich voice laughed, surprising Kim. 

" Hey! Be thankful that we cared enough!" Kim snapped back at him. " You've gotten hurt on almost every excursion we've done, over."

" Ah. A few broken bones never-" Marcus's sentence was abruptly cut off.

"Marcus?" Kim asked. " Hello? Guys, you okay down there?"

 " Kathleen's laptop just blew up." Marcus finally replied. Kim could hear Kathleen swearing quite loudly in the background.

" What!?" Kim made a face; computers don't just explode randomly. " Literally?" 

" Yes…Literally." 

Kim glanced back over at her own laptop. She was about to ask Marcus what Kathleen had done to make her computer explode when something caught her attention. 

Another file was being uploaded. 

" Your…not uploading anything to me at the moment are you, over?" Kim asked, still staring at her computer. The file was almost done. 95%.

" Of course not!" Marcus said, he sounded flustered at the least. " I didn't bring my stuff with me!"

" Crap." Kim dropped the walkie-talkie and dived towards the plug. No luck though, she only managed to bump her head on the desk and bang her knee as she scrambled for the cord. 

Her heard her computer start to fizz, sparks where actually coming out of it!  It exploded just as she was about to poke her head back from under the desk, sending shards of plastic and silicon into the wall and floor. 

Kim crawled out from under the desk when the damage seemed to be done. She blinked at the pieces of her laptop scattered on her desk and sniffled. She had liked that computer too.

She picked up the walkie-talkie. " Well…I think…It's safe to say. That they aren't the friendliest aliens in the galaxy." 

" What ever happened to ET you wonder? Maybe they killed him." Marcus replied just as dryly. 

" They probably blew it up!" Kathleen shrieked. " I just finished my last payment on the damn thing too!"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

" Very good Princess. It seems that you're finally coming up to speed with your training." 

Talia, Princess of the Selesctain race looked up from the screen of her zmngaefh*, she smiled finally glad her tutor had praised her. She pulled the headpiece off of her head and striped the wires from her arms, disconnecting herself from the machine. 

She yawned and stretched, her glowing green eyes closing briefly. It was tiring to work on the zmngaefh's. They drained one's energy if you where connected to long. 

" Do you know where my mother is?" She asked her voice was rich and elegant. Which could be expected, she was royalty. 

" In the hangers like usual I suppose." Her instructor replied. He was moving down the room looking over the other students in it. He stopped and glanced back at Talia as she stood. 

" Did you upload something during this session Talia?" He asked.

The princess gave a mischievous smile that she was notorious for. " Oh nothing." She quickly left the room before her instructor could ask her any further questions. 

_He doesn't need to know. _She thought walking swiftly down the hallways of the palace. Her lose black pants swayed around her form. She pulled down the sleeves of her shirt. It was green with tiny patterns woven in with a soft golden lace. She wasn't dressed properly to address the queen but that didn't matter. As long as her father wasn't present.

It had taken a while, but the humans had finally found them. Talia was lucky she found them in the act when she did. Without any evidence it would be tough to prove that her race was currently on earth. 

Talia punched in the code to open the doors to the hangers. She walked in picking her way through the masses of weapons and tools littering the area. 

Seeing that she couldn't find her mother easily she sought out the nearest person she knew. Tapping the long brown haired man standing over a table of blueprints, Talia cleared her throat. 

" Hey Two. Where is my mother?" 

The man turned around and greeted Talia with a smile; he had expressive violet eyes and creamy pale skin. Much different than the light blue skin Talia and her race had. " She's over behind Five's suit. Make sure you stay away from him though. He's peeved that it's taking so long to fix it."

Talia shook her head. " It's his fault he overloaded it." 

" Yea that's what I said too." Two laughed turning back to face the table. 

Talia started towards the mobile suits down at the other end of the hangar. They were originally a peaceful race, but more often than not, the planets that they landed on would attack them. Mass casualties had forced the Selesctains to build up a defense. They couldn't afford to lose any more of their people.

" Mother!" Talia called looking up at the platform next to the mobile suit.

Queen Natina poked her head out from around the suit's torso. " Is it important?" She asked, taking the moment to wipe some oil from off her face. Natina's true passion was working on machines, much to the dismay of the court. She almost could always be found in the hangars, working on something and completely covered in oil. 

" Very!" Talia shouted. 

" Alright then." Natina wiped her hands clean, on a nearby cloth and turned back to the three other Selesctains. 

" I'll be back in a few minutes." She called, walking down the stairs to the base floor. 

Talia quickly grabbed her mother's arm and led her off to tell her what she had discovered. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

" So what _are _we going to do?" Solo asked looking over at Okatami. Classes finally had let out for the weekend and like most of the Garden students, they had headed too the downtown area of the city the Garden was located in. 

Currently they were walking down Main Street. Almost lost in the crowds of teenagers. 

" I promised Kendra I'd meet her at the arcade." Okatami grinned. " They just got a new fighting game in and I gotta kick her ass, once again!"

Solo shook his head. "She'll never give up will she?" He said. 

" Damn right I won't ya know!" Came a female voice from behind the two boys. " I'm gonna kick yer arse!"

" Hey Kendra!" Solo greeted turning around. 

Kendra stood a few feet away from the two boys. She was a tall black girl, with short haircut to frame her face. Like the current fashion trends demanded, Kendra had dyed her hair a fiery red at the end.  She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a black v-cut shirt. 

"Tck." Okatami grinned. " I still say I'm going to beat you!"

Kendra stormed forward and dragged the black haired boy off towards the arcade. Solo followed laughing at the two. Wasn't often that the girl wasn't doing this to Okatami. 

He just hoped it wouldn't take the whole afternoon though…

An hour later Solo was starting to think that they were indeed going to spend the rest of the day in the arcade.

" C'mon guys." He whined banging his head on the wall. " We've been here for an hour!"

" We're still tied!" Both of them replied snappishly. 

" And I shall win this time." Okatami snarled.

" In yer dreams." Kendra laughed. 

Solo sighed and leaned against the wall next to the two duelers. " Is it possible to stay tied this long?" He questioned shaking his head sadly.

He was ignored by the other two, who where rapidly pounding on random buttons. Solo settled for watching Okatami and Kendra since he'd gone through the arcade twice. 

The braided boy blinked looking away from the game when he noticed a bunch of people watching something that was going on in the front of the arcade. Deciding that just about anything had to be more interesting than watching Okatami and Kendra mash buttons he wandered over. 

"Geez!" Exclaimed Solo as he dodged to the side, narrowly missing getting knocked over by another guy. 

" I thought I told you to stop hitting on me." Came a commanding female voice. A short girl stepped out of the crowd. She shook her hand, trying to get the sting out of it as she leveled a death glare at the boy on the ground, the same one that had nearly plowed him over.

 Solo new the guy too; he was a regular at the Garden. Kid with just a bit too much money left to him by his family. He was a royal jerk and it was actually kind of nice to see him put down like this. 

She had dark brown hair that hung wildly around her shoulders; her cold blue eyes were still glaring down at the boy in front of her. She wore simple clothes a blue t-shirt over a pair of jeans, but she still had a dangerous air around her. 

" Come near me again and I'll make sure you can't reproduce." She snarled before stalking out of the arcade. 

The boy scrambled you from the ground, his face aflame in anger and embarrassment. He glared at briefly at the crowd and then stormed out of the building in a huff.

The crowd blinked mutely for a second, then exploded into applause. 

Okatami tapped Solo on the shoulder. " What happened?" He asked.

" Someone finally slapped McNarther down." Solo replied. " You guys done? I wanna get back to the Garden."

Okatami grumbled. " Yea…"

Kendra bounded up and flashed a peace sign. " He owes me two sundaes! Told him I'd beat him now didn't I?" She giggled happily. 

Solo smiled and congratulated Kendra, much to the dismay of Okatami. Then the trio headed back the Garden. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

" C'mon Kathleen, it's not like it's the end of the world." Marcus sighed trying to comfort the pouting woman next to him. 

Kim had told the other two to meet her at their local bar to regroup and discuss what to do next. Currently the red haired woman was busily pouring over the data collected from the afternoon excursion. 

Kathleen grumbled and took another sip out of her drink. " Couldn't they of just told us to back off or something." Kathleen whined. She set the cup back down with a frustrated thunk and pushed her dirty blond hair back behind her ears. " It's unfair."

" Quite so." Kim replied, only half listening to the report. She bit her lip. Things weren't shaping up so well she could tell. 

" Well, what's the verdict? Should we go and tell or keep it hush, hush." Marcus asked looking over at Kim. 

Kim shook her head closing the top of Marcus's laptop. " Kathleen managed to get into their main database." She said.

That made the blonde woman stop in mid-pout. " How?"

Kim shrugged. " I don't know. Much of it is in another language…they use very odd symbols. But there's some in English. From what I can gather… they're preparing for an invasion."  She kept her voice very low, the bar was almost deserted and no one would probably think twice about what she was talking about, but being cautious saved lives. 

" Well that's certainly not good. Sure you read it right?" Marcus placed his head in his hands, feeling a headache coming on.

" We've got to stop them." Kim murmured. " Or at least see if we can communicate with them."

" Just us?" Kathleen said. " That's not going to be very convincing." 

" No, not you two. You guys will stay behind." Kim's mind was already making up a plan. She hesitated a second. " I have the resources to…make this mission. I'll handle the contact. Just make sure you guys have something read to record it all."

Marcus and Kathleen shared an uneasy glance. Their friend had that frightening gleam in her eyes. She wasn't telling them a lot of things and this was definitely not a good sign. 

Sighing Kathleen decided not to even try. There was no way to stop Kim once she set her mind to do something. You could strap her down to a chair and she'd still find a way to so it.

" When?" Kathleen asked.

Kim took a sip of her drink. " Tomorrow. " 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Right then! There's chapter one! Tell me what you think! Do you hate it? Please tell me why. I'm trying to become a better author! Any comments are welcome; flames will be mocked then used as fire for my candles. 


	3. Agent I'mOhSoSexy!?

Author notes: Hello again. Sorry it took so long for this chapter. I've been having a life ( gasp!) and I've had some emotional problems that sorta make writing kinda hard.  Things are starting to pick up somewhat, but I'm still trying to establish all the relationships between Solo n' friends. Thank you to everyone that reviewed, it means a lot to me.

Special thanks to Li-chan because she actually e-mailed me and had that lovely comment about the T-shirt that I just had to use. Kudos to her.

Disclaimer: HA! I bought them all on E-bay! That's right! GW belongs to me, myself and Lok.* sweatdrops as the lawyers man their brief cases* Okay, I don't own them or any reference to movies mentioned in the fic. The plot and all the children belong to ME! If you take them I will skin you alive. ^_^V Have a nice day and enjoy the fic. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Chapter two- Agent I'mOhSoSexy!? 

They'd been studying forever. 

Solo frowned, glaring at the textbook in front of him. He placed his head in his hands and tried to continue reading. No good though, the words still kept blurring together and he doubted that his brain was processing any of the information.

The braided teenager glanced up at Okatami and Kendra. Both where staring down at their textbooks and notes in a similar fashion that Solo was. 

That was all he needed. It was indeed break time. Grinning, Solo gasped grabbing his head as if he were in pain and fell out of his chair dramatically. 

" 404 Error!" Declared the braided boy, when his friends looked over at him oddly. " Solo's brain is no longer found, please click your back button or retype today's studying schedule." 

Kendra laughed. She got up from her chair and started poking Solo, who tried to squirm away from the girl. " I dun see the back button!" She observed, still torturing Solo.

" Guess he's trying to say we should take a break, huh?" Okatami closed his books and yawned, stretching his lanky form over the chair. He was dressed in comfy clothes, as where Solo and Kendra. Today his shirt read, " Don't piss me off- I'm running out of places to hide the bodies!" As strange, and humorous, as it was; it clearly expressed how most of the students felt during the hectic days before exams. 

Solo climbed back into his chair after swatting Kendra away from him. She sat down in the chair next to him and leaned on the table, cupping her chin in her hands while her elbows rested on the table. " I hate books," She sighed, " Hate textbooks even more. I can't wait until I'm done with this."

Okatami grinned, absently tapping his pencil on the table. " Yea. Next year we finally graduate."

" And yet you still have no idea what you're going to do?" Solo asked, noticing the sad look on his friends' face.

Okatami shrugged. " Yep." 

" Figures. You dun know what your gonna do until you've gone and done it," Kendra said.  
  


The dark haired boy laughed, " Well at least life is more exciting then!" He said.

" Idiot," was Kendra's only reply. 

" Ha! You know you love me!" Okatami winked. 

" I certainly don't!" Professor Kim's head poked over the book self as she spoke. " I've been looking for you two forever. Tell my why you must hide in the farthest part of the library?" 

" It's either that or hide more bodies!" Solo pointed at Okatami's shirt.

Kim rolled her green eyes. " Meeting in my office. You have fifteen minutes, or else." 

Solo grinned at the teacher. He and Okatami had been her favorite students for a while. Teachers weren't supposed to play favorites, but that didn't stop any of them. " Or else what?"

" I'll tell that pre-teen fan club of yours that you think one of them is cute," Kim snickered.

Solo winced, then glared at Okatami as he started laughing. " That's not funny. I didn't get a moment of peace in the hallways after I asked that girl for some change." 

Kim glanced over at Okatami who was still laughing. " And I'll give the laundry washers some special instructions for your stuff." 

That stopped Okatami in mid laugh.

" We'll be there. What for anyway?" Okatami asked.  

" Someone stole my grade sheet again. You'd think they'd stop after I planted the false one," she grumbled. " See you there." 

Kendra shook her head. " Looks like I'm studyin' all by myself, eh?" She asked. 

" Sorry." Solo said sheepishly.

" Ah, it's okay," she smiled. 

" She's evil…Evil woman is she," Okatami stood up and started shoveling his books into his backpack. Solo did the same.   
  


" We'll catch up with you later!" Solo said cheerfully as the two boys left their friend. She waved back absently, starting to get back into her study mode again.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

" Ten bucks it isn't about a stolen cheat sheet," Solo murmured as he and Okatami stepped into the elevator outside of the library. 

" No way. I'm poor enough, besides it's a given it isn't. Kim had 'scary look' on."

" Didn't notice," Solo pushed the button for the third floor. " You sure? 'Scary look' and 

'I'm 'friggin annoyed look' seem very alike."

" It was 'scary serious mission' look," Okatami said. " And I thought we'd get off this week because of exams."

" No rest for the weary," Solo sighed, exasperated. The elevator doors opened. They stepped out and started walking down the hallway.  Kim's classroom was only a few paces down from the hallway, so it didn't take the boys that long to reach it. 

When they entered they found that they were not the only one's called by Kim. Though that wasn't uncommon, she tended to handle larger missions better than most of the other professors. 

Solo nudged Okatami and gestured over to the brunette sitting against the wall next to an Asian girl. " That's the girl who smacked McNarther down yesterday," He whispered as he plopped down in the seat on the other side of the room.

" Must be new." Okatami said. He waved to one of the other students he knew, a pigtailed girl sitting not far from the two. 

" Dude, there're like a whole bunch of newbies here," The pigtailed girl grumbled shaking her head. " They're all supposed to be really good too. I looked up on them." 

The girl was an extraordinaire hacker, and the Garden's biggest gossip. Her name was Heather. It was astounding that she was actually chosen for the Preventer training, but it was presumed that she hadn't spilled anything about it yet.  

Heather quickly moved over to the seat next to Okatami and started giving him almost to much info on the newbies in question. Solo took the moment to look at them himself. New people moved into the Garden and left all the time, but it was rare that any of them where in the training program.

" Ikiiki Yuy, Meiran and Yusuke Zhen," Heather pointed over to the brunette and the Asian pair next to them.

Both of them had similar facial features, and dark eyes. Meiran had ebony black hair that hung down slightly below her shoulders. She wore a pair of jeans and a soft blue shirt. Yusuke's hair was also black with soft light brown highlights. It was pulled back into a tight ponytail. 

 " Ikiiki's from Japanese decent, and from what I can tell has no relation to either of the Heero Yuy's. Weird ne? The other two are from China, they went to the Garden in Europe before they were transferred here," Heather informed. 

She moved over to another pair sitting a few rows in front of them. A girl with long platinum blonde hair, and a boy with striking blue hair that cascaded down his back to his waist. 

" Niji and Kazen Peacecraft," Heather said, she pulled out a purse and started to rummage through it. " Niji's nice, she moved into my dorm room. I asked her if she was related to the Peacecrafts and she said she didn't know. Pretty odd. I think Kazen's actually supposed to move into your room today too, Solo." 

" Really?" Solo quirked an eyebrow. 

" Yep." 

" There were a few more students that came in, but none of them are in the program. So, ya know they can't be _that_ interesting." 

Okatami snorted shaking his head. " Where's Kim? She's gonna end up being late for her own meeting."

Heather shrugged. " She was here, then rushed out wailing about forgetting to call someone. She should be back soon." 

As if on cue, the classroom door opened. Kim stepped in and slammed it before stalking over to her computer without even a glance at the students in the room.

" Glad you all made it, on time. I had to phone someone, sorry that I'm late," She sat down at the computer and started to type.

" First let me start by saying that this mission is strictly voluntary. And it won't be held against you if you don't want to do it. So if you have to study for some exam, or just don't feel like it, don't raise your hand."

Solo grinned at Okatami and both of them raised their hands. So did Yusuke, Ikiiki, two other students and Meiran. There were fifteen students in the room, so a fair number had volunteered. 

Kim glanced up from her computer. " Thanks. Now for you that don't want to go, get out. Forget I ever called you." 

Heather smiled and waved goodbye to Okatami. " If I don't pass my math exam I'll fail. Heh, guess I can't sleep in class anymore.." 

With that the students who hadn't volunteered left the room. As soon as the door closed a map of the flat region not far from the Garden appeared on the large screen in front of the classroom.

" Please, remain silent until I'm done speaking," Kim said.

" Yesterday myself and some of my colleagues stumbled across this, which we had been searching for, for a number of months."

On the map a picture of a small, compact city appeared. It was golden in color, looking almost like a fairy tale castle with its tall spiraling towers. There was a dome covering it, making the city look fuzzy in the view. 

The students looked at each other, shifting in their seats. The same question ran through all of their minds. What the hell was that? 

" Believe it or not," Kim continued, " that is what we like to call an alien spaceship. The dome around it is a force field, which has successfully kept us from noticing their presence here. So far it's impossible to penetrate it. But…"

The image on the screen zoomed in, showing a small opening in the side of the force field.

" That's an opening as you can tell. They seem to have had some contact with humans, using that to go back and forth from the ship to the city. We'll enter the area through there." 

Kim sighed, looking up from the computer. " We've found evidence that these aliens can literally blast us into dust without too effort. Even worst, there's a possibility that they're gearing up for an invasion of Earth." 

" The goal of this mission is to contact them. See what they want and if indeed they are hostile against us. If so, we shall retreat and plan a defensive effort with the help of the other Preventers. If they attack, we will retaliate and then basically get the hell out of there as fast as possible. It'll be necessary to find out if our weapons have any affect on their technology. "

She stood up from her desk and walked around it, to the front. A ghost of a smile appeared on her face, as she leaned against the desk. " Operation MIB will commence promptly at 11:15 tonight. We'll meet in the garage area like usual."

Kim paused, looking over the room. " Any questions?"

Every hand in the classroom shot up.

Kim frowned. " Any questions not pertaining to the thought that I've gone insane watching old Sci-Fi movies?" 

Every hand dropped save one. Soft snickers came from a few of the students. They where quickly silenced by a sharp glare from the Professor.

"Ikiiki?" Kim addressed the only student who had their hand up. 

" Has this been approved by HQ?" The Japanese girl asked.

Kim sighed, knowing that question would come up sooner or later. " You probably wouldn't believe me if I said yes. So, no it has not been approved. In fact I just got off the phone with one of the ruder board members. They hung up on before I could explain anything."

" So we're doing this with no authorization," Another student asked.

" That's right," Kim nodded. " Are you all still in?"

All of the students rapidly proclaimed that, yes they were still in. 

" A chance to save the world!" Okatami laughed, singing some dramatic music after he spoke. 

" Alright, alright. Settle down people," Kim waved her hands bringing order back to the room. " I thank you all for sticking with me, even though this does sound a bit odd. You're all dismissed until the mission. Don't be late."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

" So…Uh.." One of the Chinese siblings Heather had pointed out mumbled as the students filtered out of Kim's classroom. " Does stuff like this happen normally?" 

His sister came up behind him, Ikiiki standing behind her, glaring at nothing in particular.

" I new it was a mistake coming here,"  Ikiiki grumbled.   
  
" Ah, it sounds interesting," Kazen, the blue haired newbies laughed, walking out of the classroom. 

Solo shrugged. " Only time to time. Most of the things they send us on aren't that extreme. It sorta depends how good you are." 

" But it is just a _lovely_ welcome to the Garden isn't it?" Okatami rolled his eyes. " Ah yes, here's your dorm room key, and oh later tonight you'll go searching for aliens! Welcome to the Garden," He gave a cheesy grin. 

More laughter. The older students introduced themselves to the newer ones. Most of the people at the Garden population were almost too friendly for their own good, but it made it much easier for those who just transferred in to feel at home. 

" Okay, there is a rumbly in my tumbly and it demands food," Okatami whined, once they had left the group of students. 

Solo sweatdropped at the black haired boy. He blinked, and glanced down at his watch. " Oh man…" He moaned, stopping dead in his tracks.

" What?" Okatami raised an eyebrow.

" I promised to visit Muzai, today and I should have been there an hour ago!"  Solo smacked his forehead with his hand before taking off down the hallway towards the dormitories. " She's gonna be so angry!"

Okatami sighed. "That girl's got you wrapped around your finger Solo," He called and started after his friend. " And I'm still hungry…"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

" Your late Solo-chan!"  

Solo winced looking down at the girl in front of him. " I'm _really_ sorry Muzai," He apologized.

The six year old girl 'hmph'd at Solo putting her hands on her hips. " You're so forgetful."

" I know," Solo laughed, going down on to one knee so he was eye level with the little girl. " I still get a hug though?"

Muzai made a face, her dark brow eyes crinkling up at Solo. " No!" She giggled and zoomed past Solo. She tackled Okatami who was standing behind Solo, minding his own business. 

" Gyah!" Shrieked Okatami, as he was tackled. He waved his arms, trying to keep himself on balance, but had a rather hard time since Muzai was hanging onto his shoulders. After a few seconds he fell over, with a happily giggling girl sitting on his stomach.

" Hi Okatami!" She hugged the boy quickly. 

Okatami groaned, that had hurt. " Hi…" He wheezed out. He glared up at Solo who was snickering silently at him. 

" Muzai, haven't I told you not to tackle the old man like that," A girl walked out of the room in front of the two boys. She was around the same age of Solo and Okatami. 

Her name was Arisa Fujita; she was Muzai's older sister. She was pretty with short black hair that was cut short to frame her face; she also had dark brown eyes like her sister. Solo had been a close friend of both girls ever since they were transferred into the Garden. He'd dated Arisa for a few months but their relationship ran smack into a wall quickly. They broke up, but were still pretty good friends despite the uncomfortable situations they ran into while being together. 

Okatami grumbled sitting up, once Muzai had gotten off of him. " I am not a old man," He said.

" Sure sound like one!" Muzai laughed again. She looked over at Solo. " Soooo?"

" You're taking her out again?" Arisa crossed her arms over her check giving Solo an annoyed look.

Caught red handed, Solo grinned laughing nervously. Arisa had one hell of a screech when she was annoyed. It was best to keep her happy. " Well..yea..just for lunch though," He said, he glanced down at Okatami who was trying to crawl away unnoticed. He stomped his foot in front of his friend, effectively stopping him from going forward.

After a second of silent looks and glared both boys looked back at Arisa. They smiled, giving her their best innocent looks.

Arisa sweatdropped. " That's pitiful," She looked down at her sister " Alright, Muzai go get your coat,"  The younger sister scurried off to do so.

Arisa looked back at Solo. " Don't come home with another video game system," She pleaded.

Solo looked shocked. " What ever do you mean by that?!"

" I think she means buying Muzai that Playstation 53 last month." Okatami suggested. " You'd think they'd stop after number 20…" 

" Well…its was a whole 'nother, what?" Solo shrugged, thinking for a second. " Seven months until her birthday. Besides, she liked it and that's all that's important."

" Not to mention you get to play it also..." Arisa snorted. " You spoil her horribly." 

" Yea…yea…you always say that."

Muzai came back out into the hallway, quickly pulling on the blue jacket she'd found. " Ready!" 

Solo smiled picking up the girl. " Alright then let's go!" 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Solo grinned into the mirror of his room. " Lookin' good, if I don't say so myself," He preened.  He yanked down the sleeves of his black shirt and pulled on a pair of gloves. He was dressed entirely in black from head to toe. It was the standard Preventer trainee uniform for night missions. 

" Solo lets go!" Okatami yelled from outside of the bedroom. " My god what the hell are you doing in there, putting on makeup, curling your hair maybe?"

Solo made a face, he muttered under his breath sticking his braid down the back of his shirt. The last thing he needed was to get it snagged on something like it had before in previous missions. That was unbelievably dangerous and painful. He swiped his sunglasses from the desk and walked out of the bedroom, sliding them onto his face.

" Okay! Agent I'mOhSoSexy is ready to go," Solo declared.

Okatami and Kazen, who had just finished settling into his room, looked at him. They where both also dressed in the standard uniform. Kazen had his long blue hair tied up in a ponytail.

" Why are you wearing sunglasses?" Kazen asked. He blinked his light blue eyes in confusion. " Isn't it dark enough?"

Okatami grabbed a pillow and threw it at Solo. " Dork," he said, standing up. " C'mon we're gonna be late." 

" Your just jealous you know," Solo protested hastily ducking the pillow. 

" Oh I'm just green with envy Solo," Okatami replied dryly.  He opened the door. " Can we go now…The last thing I wanna deal with is Professor Kim having a spaz attack because we're late."

" Your still jealous! I can see it in your eyes," Solo accused walking out the door after Kazen. 

" That's annoyance Solo," Okatami replied. " You really should not of had those three cups of coffee in that café."

" Had to stay awake somehow," Solo replied. He looked over at Kazen. " So umm…"  He tried to find something to talk about with the newbies.

They walked for a few minutes in a slightly uncomfortable silence.  Kazen finally broke it by glancing over at Solo and asking, " What kind of shampoo do you use?" 

Solo grinned widely. Okatami groaned. 

" God no…Not another one," he sweatdropped listening to Solo start to chatter away about all the hair care products he used, all the uncomfortable tension disappearing between the two boys.

In what felt like an eternity later to Okatami, the three boys reached the garage around of the Garden. They were the last to walk in though, so they got a short speech about being prompt from Kim.

" We were still five minutes early too," Solo grumbled as Kim walked off to grab something.

All the students where lined up in a row in front a couple of jeeps. Most of them were in various degrees of trying not to yawn out loud, or thinking about something they'd rather be doing at the moment than standing around. 

Okatami nudged Solo. " Check it out," he leaned back looking down the line at Meiran. " Cute chick."

" You didn't notice her before?" Solo asked.

" Well, yea sorta. And I was like 'cute chick' before, but now I'm saying it." 

" Oh." Solo nodded. " Yea. Not my type though."

Okatami grinned. " She's got cute boobs." 

Yusuke who happened to be standing next to Okatami looked over at him with a death glare that had 'over-protective brother' written all over it. " That's my sister," he snarled in a clipped tone.

Okatami's eyes widened, he blinked at Yusuke panicking for a few seconds.

" Switching places Solo!"

Smirking the long haired teen did so. " Sorry about that," he said to Yusuke, who was still giving Okatami an evil glare. 

" Alright guys," Kim walked back into view, carrying a box in her arms. " Two to a jeep, save one group who will have three. You will all have a walkie-talkie so we can still communicate," and she started to call out names of the groups.

Solo had been put with Ikiiki and one of the students he didn't know very well. Okatami had unfortunately been picked to go with Yusuke's sister Meiran. The rest of the students where also paired up. They all picked up their walkie-talkies and started getting into the Jeeps. 

Laughing at his friend Solo waved bye and walked over to his Jeep. He greeted Ikiiki and the other student who were getting in too. The other student was a boy, who looked at least a year younger than Solo. He had blonde hair and brown eyes.

He started the car and grinned his trademark grin. " Ladies and gents let's get ready to roll!" 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Phew! Chapter two one! Rejoice! * waves flags* I got really frustrated with this chapter but it ended up writing smoothly at the end. I'm glad about that. Lesee, oh yea forgot the translation for the word last chapter.

Zmngaefh- Computer 

Nothing to hard to figure out there. Please, please, please, I beg of you review. I crave to know what my readers think if my fic. Tell me what you don't like, what you do like, if you found something funny or not funny. Anything! Hell, tell me if you have a favorite character so far! * makes chibi face* Kazen will cry if you don't! And I will tooooo! *snickers evilly* Angst warning for the next chapter.


	4. Blood hath stained my hands...

Author notes: Slight gore warning for the middle of the chapter( I've been reading to many horror books ^^;;) . Thanks Dru for pointing and going 'EW FAITH!' Btw…He lasted three chapters! *Cackles happy *. Thanks to everyone that reviewed, it makes me really happy. *Gives cookies *

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. If I did I wouldn't be writing a fanfic, I'd be making an anime. So don't sue me! I'll throw a hissy fit if you do! This plot and it's characters are MINE! Take them and I'll cut out your tongue, yes your tongue, and fry it up on a stick!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Chapter three- Blood hath stain my hands…

So far nothing interesting had happened. 

Solo sighed chewing on his lip as he drove along, the line of Jeeps were quickly zipping through the highway, towards the area where the alien ship was supposed to be. No one was really out, and if those who were didn't too much of it. Stranger things have happened…

But it was starting to be boring. And when Solo got bored on a mission odd things tended to happen. He glanced over at Ikiiki and the blonde guy he'd been paired up with. Certainly they wouldn't mind if he made sure he wouldn't get too distracted.

Solo flipped on the radio and tuned it his favorite station. He saw Ikiiki and the blonde guy exchange glances.

" Turn that off." Ikiiki grumbled, rolling her blue eyes at him. " Idiot." 

Solo shrugged at her. " Aw, come on. It's better than just having silence." He turned it up. " Wonder how long it'll take the Professor to start yelling." 

" Whatever." Ikiiki looked out the window, seemly trying to pretend she wasn't stuck in the car with a braided idiot going to make first contact with aliens. 

Ikiiki made an exasperated look putting her hand to her forehead as she thought about that. _This_ _is insane… _She thought. 

Of course Solo choice that moment to start singing along to the song blasting out of the radio. He nudged the guy next to him; until he caved in and started to sing also,  even know he didn't know the words. 

Ikiiki glared at the two, contemplating wither she should shot them or herself. Neither of the boys could sing, it sounded like two dying cats yowling at each other. Not a pleasant thing to hear.

Thankfully Kim can to the rescue.

" Solo!" She yelled over the walkie-talkie. " Turn that off and stop screeching before I dump you on the side of the road and make you walk home!" 

Solo sweatdropped picking up the walkie-talkie. He juggled around with it a bit, trying to keep from driving off the road and being able to make it talk. " That'd be kinda hard to do since I'm driving Professor." He commented.

"This isn't the time for joking around." She scolded him.   
  


Solo sighed. " Fine…" He rolled his eyes. " I'm sorry." He didn't sound like he was though. He leaned over and clicked off the radio.

" I swear…you're going to be the end of me." Kim grumbled exasperated. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

This wasn't going well. Not well at all.

_Whoever the hell is up there has one hell of a sense of humor. _ Okatami thought looking over at Meiran quickly. Personally, he did _not_ want to be on the bad side of her brother at all.  He was scary.

Then on the other hand he wanted to get to know her. She was cute and by god he was a teenaged male! There had to be some law against this.

Meiran laughed suddenly, making Okatami jump almost out of his seat. 

" It's okay." She said. " I won't tell him anything. Yusuke seems intimidating but he really couldn't hurt a fly." 

Okatami laughed, recovering from his startle. " Okay." He said. He grinned lopsidedly at her. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kim frowned at the laptop in her lap again. She'd borrowed it from Marcus, who had pleaded endlessly for her not to let it get blown to smithereens. 

She frowned again and started to type.

Kazen who was driving the jeep looked over at her, still managing to keep the vehicle from running into any of the trees. They were driving though a small forest on a narrow dirt road. It was only a couple of miles until they reached the beginning of the force field. 

" If you frown again, your face will stick like that." Kazen said simply.

The red haired woman glanced up at him. She flashed a bit of a smile. " Better to be worried than not." She said.

" Worried about what?" Kazen asked.

" Everything and nothing in general." 

" Oh." Kazen made a confused face. He didn't ask any more questions. Merely driving until they broke out of the enclosure of trees. 

Kim picked up the walkie-talkie and told the other students to follow right behind them, since they were in the lead of the line. She then steered Kazen onto the correct path and they went through. 

Kazen's eyes widened as he looked at the alien ship looming in front of them. " Wow." He 'ooh'ed in awe. The ship seemed to glow it's own light, casting odd shadows all over the small plain. Colors, which haven't been seen by human eyes, shifted constantly as they made their way across the tall towers of the ship. It didn't look like anything the sci-fi moviemakers had show on the big screen. It didn't even look like it could move.

He wondered how they kept it from being shown outside of the force field. 

There was something in front of the ship though, a few something's actually. " Professor…?" He asked. " What are those?"

To which Kim had no answer. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The humans were still advancing.

Princess Talia sat in the control core of her Nmkqdgbaqt*. Wires thread around and into her body keeping her connected to the controls of the machine. A transparent visor came down over her face, showing her a clear view of the area surrounding the front of the ship.

She could see the small human vehicles come through the opening in their Emhzgeqgdf*. And she was starting to think they would not stop.

" Shall we fire on them Princess?" Her second in command asked, his voice threading through the wires to her mind. They didn't speak out loud when connected to most of their machines, to do so would ruin the flow between the two and caused injury to the user.  

" No." She replied. " Not yet." 

Talia hadn't been in charge of many things. She was still training to become ruler of the Selesctain people. Having to command someone still threw her for a loop. Though her father had been given her more and more tasks to perform. She would be crowned soon and her parents would step down from the throne. 

Talia waited for that day with a quiet fear.

" Princess?" Her second in command asked once again, rousing her from her thoughts. " They are still approaching. We should fire."

" Issue a warning, if they do not stop we will fire. Lowest beam setting." She told him. 

" Acknowledged." He replied. 

Talia shifted in her seat, waiting for the humans to react to the warning. If they were smart, they'd retreat.

But what she'd read about in their history. Humans weren't that smart….

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Shit." Kim cursed, the laptop screen had blacked out.

' Leave.' The letters appeared quickly on her screen. ' Or we will be forced to stop your advance.'

" Stop the car!" She yelled at Kazen. She grabbed the walkie-talkie and started shouting for the other students to stop also. 

Kazen slammed on the breaks, almost sending him and Kim into the windshield. "What happened?" He asked.

" They've contacted us." She looked out over at the other jeeps, relieved to see they were stopping also.   
  


Her eyes flicked forward. One of the jeeps was still heading merrily on its way. Kim cursed. Hadn't the students heard her? Looked like the one Okatami was driving, but she wasn't sure.

She grabbed her walkie-talkie. " Hey!" She yelled. " Okatami, can you hear me? Stop where you are!"

A soft buzzing noise is all she got in reply.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

" All the others have stopped." Meiran observed looking back. 

Okatami raised an eyebrow. That couldn't be a good sign. " Professor Kim hasn't given us any different orders."

" Professor?" Meiran already had the walkie-talkie in her hand. She blinked at it when she didn't hear anything. She flipped the device over and opened it's back. 

" Batteries are dead." 

Okatami cursed. " Well that's just great." He stepped on the breaks, slowing the jeep down. He looked back over his shoulder at the group they'd left behind.

" Kim's gonna deep fry out friggin' asses, and it wasn't even our fault. God I hate when screw-ups like thi-"

" Okatami!" Meiran shouted, calling his attention back to what was happening in front of them. 

One of the alien weapons had moved. It was already standing up and both teenagers found themselves staring down the glowing barrel of the weapon's arm. They stared at it dumbly, like a deer caught in headlights. The weapon fired, sending the blue energy crackling down on them in a deafening roar. 

" Oh shit!" Okatami punched down on the gas, swerving the car as hard as he could to the right. 

Meiran shut her eyes tight trying to keep from falling out of the car, her balance was horrible and she was having a hard time grabbing onto something. 

Okatami was swearing a mile a minute; they weren't going to make it. Whatever the hell that shit was, it was too fast. He gave up on trying to steer the car out and merely pushed Meiran out of the jeep, thanking the lord that they were doorless and that Meiran was already off balance. She made a sharp, surprised scream as she was pushed out. 

Okatami looked up at the blue blast that was right in front of the car. It blinded him, but through all the confusion and adrenaline that was running through his brain he managed to think

This is **so** going to hurt… 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

" Oka…" Solo stared as he saw the jeep get hit by the energy. He was at a lost for words. This _so_ was not happening. He was not watching his best friend get vaporized by evil aliens.

Both Ikiiki and the other boy were staring also, disbelief written all over their faces.

Then the jeep exploded, smacking the chestnut haired youth back into reality. He yelled Okatami's name, jumping of the car. 

He ran, he ran as fast and hard as he could. The Professor was yelling at him to stop and come back but he didn't listen. All he could think was getting to Okatami as quickly as possible, cause of course he'd be hurt. Be he'd be alive.

_Alive. Which means still breathing, and doesn't mean he's going to be buried. _

By the time Solo got close to Okatami his lungs where burning and he could barely get out a good breath. The scrap pieces of what had one been the jeep were lying around on the ground, somewhere burning. Which gave Solo ample light to look around for his friend. 

" Okatami!" He shouted, frantically. 

He stood, listening over the shortness of his breath and the pounding of his heart.

No response.

_But that's okay. _Solo thought, starting to rummage through the larger pieces of debris. _He's just unconscious. Not dead. _He was starting to sound a bit redundant, but he couldn't accept it. 

Half of a seat and most of a door where sitting in a pile near where Solo was standing. He, quickly hurried over to it, seeing it wasn't flat on the ground like the other pieces where.

" Okatami?" He questioned, pulling the coarse fabric of the seat off the pile. He caught sight of a black shirt. 

Solo called his friend's name again, hoping to awaken him from unconsciousness or at least get some kind of reaction. He grabbed the door and dragged off the pile, uncovering most of his friend's face and upper torso. 

" Hey man!" Solo dropped down next to Okatami, shaking his shoulder. Okatami's eyes were closed and Solo couldn't tell if he was breathing.

_Odd…_ He was having trouble figuring out of how much Okatami was hurt. It was as if his brain didn't want to put the whole picture together.  Ignoring that for a moment he pulled the rest of debris off him and looked back over at Okatami, his mind finally making out what was really left of his friend, because there certainly wasn't much left.

Solo sank to his knees, feeling like he was about to throw up. Almost the whole left side of his friend had been vaporized. His whole arm, leg and parts of his torso where just gone. Blood was leaking out of his body and onto the ground, so much blood. Okatami's T-shirt and pants had been burned into his body saving Solo from seeing most of the internal damage.

His face had been left mercifully undamaged; it was only a little red. How that happened was a mystery.

Solo glanced down at his hands, only noticing that there was blood on them. His breath hitched for a second, his violet eyes widening. He screamed suddenly, horrified, angry, scared and sad all at the same moment. 

Okatami was dead. He was dead before Solo could even help him. Solo clenched his hands into fist and covered his eyes, not wanting to see this. Not wanting to believe that his best friend was just gone like that.

He let his body fall to the side, sobbing helplessly. It wasn't fair! Okatami had to be one of the best people that he'd ever met. Sure, he was rude sometimes and couldn't keep a steady girlfriend to save his life, but he never really tried to hurt anyone. Okatami was _always_ there for him and Kendra. He acted like he didn't know what to do after he graduated, but he was actually planning to go join the Preventers full time with Solo. 

He'd never do that now…

They planned to be close friends for the rest of their lives. 

"Hmdp *…" A voice in a unfamiliar tongue said. It continued to speak, seemingly talking to someone.

Solo looked up and froze almost entirely. One of the aliens stood not to far away from him, surveying the damage it seemed like.

He narrowed his eyes; feeling the shock and horror of what had happened dissolve into pure anger. The alien probably had come to finish the job. He stood up, wiping the tears away from his face and drew his gun from his inner pants hostler. It was standard training for the students learn how to carry and use guns, and for once Solo was glad that it was.

He leveled the gun at the alien, having trouble getting good aim because his eyes kept misting over in tears, and he was weak on his legs.

" You killed Okatami…" He whispered, his voice thick and choked with emotion. The alien was looking at him. Probably planning to blast him away also. He didn't care; it'd all be for the better probably. As long as he could get a bullet into the damn thing, he'd be happy. 

" You fucking killed him!" He shouted at it. " Why?!" He almost looked away. 

The alien merely looked at him, it's arms at its side. It didn't look evil it didn't even look threatening. It just looked tired, and a bit annoyed.

" Answer me!" Solo screamed. There had to be some explanation right? And they had talked to Kim, so they knew English.

Still it merely looked at him.

_Fine then. _Solo thought. He started to pull back on the trigger. " Eye for and eye, life for a life right?" He muttered, not speaking to anyone in general.

" Solo you idiot!" Ikiiki was at his side. She grabbed his arm and swung it upward, making the shot at the alien go wild. 

By the time she disarmed him the alien was gone. Solo swore wildly at her for letting it go.

Ikiiki shook her head as Solo leveled that violet glare at her. " Killing it wouldn't have done any good." She said. 

" I don't care!" Solo replied. He stared down at the ground.

Ikiiki sighed. If he was going to be so difficult about this she really couldn't pity him. Besides, hanging around out here wouldn't do any good, and would probably just end up in someone else getting killed.

" Meiran's still alive…we need to take her and .." She paused, " and the body to the hospital. Don't you pull any more shit like that though! Waving guns at things gets more damage done than good. I don't even want to think about all the shit that could happen the way your acting at the moment." She turned her back to him and stalked back to the jeeps.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

" I was scared." 

Talia glared at the pilot in front of her. _That's her only excuse?_ She thought in distaste. She shook her head, regretting what she was going to have to do.

The pilot was a good friend of Talia's, actually. She didn't want to have to yell at her, but it was the proper course of action.

" You went against my orders." She replied flatly, she leaned forward, clasping her hands together and resting her elbows on the clear floating table that appeared when she moved.

" Yes but Princess every time we have hesitated to attack we have regretted it." The pilot lowered her head not meeting Talia's hardened gaze.

" You went against my orders, I told you twice not to fire upon them when you started to edge out."

" I know princess, but please." The pilot clenched her hands at her sides.

Talia shook her head standing up; the clear table disappeared no longer needed. " And your hoping I'll save you from my father's wrath, aren't you?" She said, stepping down off the platform. She clasped her hands behind her back and started to circle the pilot. 

" I-"

" I won't. I cannot accept for people under my command to disobey me. I may be merely Princess at the moment, but I will be Queen soon. And will you disobey me then too?"

" I was just trying-" She kept her head down still.

" Just trying to what? Do you even understand what you have done?!"  Talia stopped walking. " They will think of us hostile now, just about all hope of settling here without conflict is gone."

"All this because you refused to acknowledge my commands and my authority over you." 

The pilot looked up. " I'm sorry…"

" Sorry isn't going to cut it 09876." She addressed the pilot by her number and not her name, making the words seem harsher than they would be without it. Talia make a disgusted sound and started to walk over to one of the portal windows. 

" You will be stripped of your piloting position and privileges. You will go before the King and tell him yourself why you went against my orders. I doubt he will inflict any further punishment but I would suggest being prepared."

" Princess please!" The pilot was looking at her. " I've worked so hard, you-" 

Talia shook her head once again, her blonde hair sliding over her shoulder. " You don't understand?" She mocked, finishing the pilot's sentence. 

"You should of thought of the consequences when you fired." She looked out the window. " Get out. I don't want to listen to you anymore.

The pilot quickly left, her footsteps sounding like she was all but running out of the room. Only when Talia heard the swirl of the doors closing behind the pilot, did she turn around. She looked at the door.

" Sorry Shemia…" She muttered under her breath. To the stars almighty, she wasn't looking forward to being Queen.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kim ran her hands though her shoulder length hair, musing it a bit as she sighed. She was exhausted.

She was in the hospital, and had just left Yusuke who was staying overnight to keep an eye on his sister. 

The numbers on her watch told her the time was four thirty-eight in the morning. She'd been waving her Preventer's badge and telling false stories for about three hours now. None of the doctor's or nurse's seemed to believe it, but they didn't ask any more questions once they realized Kim wouldn't be telling them anything new. It was the only way she could of gotten Meiran and Okatami's body into the hospital without the media finding out about what had happened.

God only know what kind of field day they'd have if they found out. It was enough to make her wince.

Kim had sent just about all of the other students back to the Garden. They seemed thankful for that small reprieve. She'd driven to the hospital in a Jeep with Kazen and Solo, Yusuke following behind them.

She walked down the pale yellow hallway, heading towards the waiting room to grab Kazen and Solo and get back to the Garden.

" How is she?" Kazen asked as soon as he spotted the red haired woman. He was lounging in a chair with a couple of empty soda cans in front of him on a wooden table. Normal teenaged method of keeping awake, it seemed like. His bright blue eyes were held concern.

Kim smiled slightly. " Just really banged up, she'll be fine in a couple of days." 

" That's good." Kazen looked relieved, the tension leaving his body. " Can we go home now?"

A nod. " That's what I was planning. " She glanced over at the Solo who was sitting next to Kazen. " Are you ready to go?"

Solo blinked up at Kim like he had just come out of a daze. He'd been extremely quiet after his outburst at the ship. It was unnerving, even when Solo had been depressed or sad to an extreme before, he still had a air around him of energy. Now it was just like he was dead, the good nature aura that cloaked the longhaired teen was gone. 

 "Yea." He replied, short and clipped. 

Kim nodded. She would say she was sorry. She wanted to say she was sorry but it wouldn't do any good. It would probably just get him riled up again, and she really couldn't deal with that. She still had to return Marcus's laptop and tell them something about what had happened tonight. Something she wasn't looking forward too.

And Une would find out what had happened soon. _God knows how that conversation is going to go._ She thought.

Kim pushed these thoughts aside. _Tomorrow,_ She thought,_ I'll deal with it all tomorrow. _

" Let's go then." And they did.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The Garden was eerily quiet.

Solo walked swiftly down the hallways towards his room, Kazen trailing behind him, wisely keeping his distance and his mouth shut.

But Solo really wouldn't of notice if Kazen was talking. He quite preoccupied with worrying about how to tell Kendra.

Or if he should tell her at all, she'd find out on her own what happened. Gossip spread around the Garden like wildfire. Most of the Preventer trainee's probably already knew about Okatami.

Solo clenched his jaw angrily at that thought. Okatami _was_ dead, and no matter how hard he tried to tell himself that Okatami wasn't, the more apparent it became that he would never see his friend again.

He stopped standing in front of the door to their room. He bit his lip swearing to himself silently. She was already in there. For once in his life Solo was regretting giving her the key.

Kendra always had some weird sixth sense going on when it came to 'her boys' as she would call them once. She would always know if one of them where feeling depressed or if they were hurt, even if they tried not to show it. 

_The alarms in her head must be going haywire…_Thought the braided boy with a dry grin.

He sighed and opened the door, he couldn't just stand outside all night and he felt Kazen's odd look on the back of his neck.

" Where have ya been?" Kendra demanded as soon as the door cracked open a crack. She was curled up on one side of the old couch that took up most of the room in the small living area.

 " I've been worried sick ya know! Thinkin' that somethin' happened and that…." Her sentence trailed off as she caught the look on Solo face. 

" Somethin's happened?" She asked, worry in her dark eyes. She clutched the small rosary in her hands tightly. 

Solo nodded silently. He walked over and sat next to the dark haired girl. He hugged her tightly and then started to explain.

" We went out, to show the newbies around the town…there was a car accident, Okatami and another girl where hit pretty badly. The girl's okay…but…he…" Solo trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence. 

" You kidding me aren't you?" She asked hugging him back. " This is a really sick joke ya know." 

Solo shook his head. " God I wish it was." 

" He can't just be dead like that!" Kendra burst into tears, pulling away from Solo. 

This was just too much. Solo couldn't handle his grief and Kendra's at the same time. He murmured a quick apology to Kendra and fled to his room, slamming and locking the door behind him. 

Kazen sighed. _This is_ _one heck of a first day. _He thought, walking over to the table and grabbed a tissue, then glanced over at Kendra again.

He shook his head and grabbed the whole box, offering it to the crying girl. She took the box and blew her nose saying a muffled 'thank you' while she did. 

He smiled slightly and nodded, settling down to kept her company until she was feeling well enough to head back to her room.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Solo hated funerals. 

In fact, he loathed them.

Five days had pasted since Okatami had died. Five days of a seemingly never-ending stream of people wanting to give condolences and trying to help out. It was driving the braided boy up the wall actually.

He hadn't gotten any sleep either; the first time he tried he was plague by nightmares of his friend's death. He woke up in even worse shape than he'd ever had before and swore not to go back to sleep until he'd gotten over this a bit more. Solo spent the rest of his nights and most of his days writing feverishly in his poetry book. 

Kazen and his sister had been extremely kind while Solo was holed up in his room. They managed to detour most of the people wanting to talk to him, and the Solo was grateful for that.

Solo leaned his head back against the tombstone; he stared up at the bright blue sky. It was mocking him, looking so cheery on such a dismal day. 

He sighed. The funeral sounded like it was breaking up. He couldn't hear the many that were gathered. Kendra had spoken for the both of them since Solo had refused to go. 

_She gave a really good speech. _Solo thought toying with a blade of grass.

" Solo?" Kendra peeked around the tombstone he was sitting against, startling the braided boy slightly.

" Hey.." He replied.

" I knew ya be here." The dark haired girl plopped down on the grass next to Solo. 

Solo managed a smile. " I'm that predictable."

" Pish. Of course ya are!" Kendra waved her hand at him. " We were both kinda right. I said ya weren't going to come, Matt said you would. Was the speech okay?"

Solo nodded. " It was great…" He looked over at her "So how've you been holding up?" 

Kendra shrugged, absently tugging on the sleeves of her black shirt. " It's hard, really hard…I just keep to expecting him to pop up somewhere just like he always does, challengin' me to another fighting game."

Solo nodded wrapping an arm around her shoulder, comforting her the best he could. " I know what you mean…" He murmured. 

Kendra laughed softly, rubbing her eyes. " Cheap bastard. He still owed me two sundaes." Her voice was thick from the effort to not start crying again.

" Oh god…" She sobbed softly leaning into Solo's shoulder. " I promised I wouldn't cry. 'Cause he wouldn't want us to be sad ya know? It's just too hard though…"

Solo squeezed her shoulder softly. She'd been holding herself together through the whole funeral; it was about time she let herself break down. " It's okay. We'll never forget him and…that's probably what he'd ask us to do." He said, while he silently swore to himself he'd get revenge for Okatami's death.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

" Ow, Stars almighty that hurt!" Princess Talia swore as the tiny machine she was fiddling with sparked and stung her hand.

She grumbled sourly staring down at it. She had been trying to fix the hologram machine for about an hour and her progress was next to none.

" That'll teach me to just swipe just any of them again…" 

She picked up the small piece of metal she'd been holding and started to poke around the machine's interior again. If she didn't get it to work this time, she'd give up.

The Selesctains had been on earth for a human year now, and Talia had never stepped out of the ship into the human world. It didn't really bother her until after she saw the human who's friend was killed by Shemia. The boy had looked so much like one of her father's human advisors that Talia was driven to talk to him.

She wanted to find out if he was from Two's past. They had found the humans in an unstable spacecraft, but then again, most human spacecrafts where horribly unstable.  Most of the humans had been unconscious; when they awoke they had various degrees of amnesia, which was a interesting thing to study.  

After many tests the Selesctain scientists concluded that there was some mind-altering chemical on the ship.

Four, the thin blonde haired one had remembered the most out of the whole group. He was kind but didn't like to talk about the past at all. Talia politely decided not to prod him then.

Talia sighed biting the bottom of her lip. She poked around the machine a bit more before being rewarded by a soft click and the machine lighting up, finally operational.

" Yes!" She exclaimed, happy to finally be done messing around with it. She slipped the machine onto her wrist and connected it into her arm, covering herself in the hologram. 

She moved over to the mirror on the other side of the room and viewed her handiwork.

Her long blonde hair was still the same, since it looked human enough not to need any changes. Her blue skin and sharply pointed ears where changed, giving her the look of a normal teenager with a healthy tan. Her eyes were normally a glowing emerald color, but they were now dimmed now merely looking a dark green. 

She smiled. _Perfect. _

Talia would have to change clothing of course, Selesctain fashion was a bit extreme compared to human fashion, but she could pull it off.

Tired the princess turned the machine off and flopped onto her bed. She'd leave for the human world tomorrow morning.

Now it was time for sleep.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

;-; Seems like the best place to stop. ;-; *cries * This chapter sucks. I'm sorry guys, I tried really hard to write it better.

Translations:

Hmdp...-Holy…

Nmkqdgbaqt- mobile suit

Emhzgeqgdf-force field

--;; I'm behind in chapters. Half of this was supposed to be in chapter two, but the chapters got to long. I don't want to take out any scenes because I already do that enough, so this fic is gonna have a few more chapters that it previously had. 

Review and…I'll..um…I'll make Kazen do a strip tease! 

Kazen: !!! O.O;; What?!!?! *chokes *

Er….Yes! Kazen will…and I'll give you a cookie! 

Kazen: I'm not gonna strip!*chases after Tansura *

Erg! See you next time guys! *flees*


End file.
